And We Will All Splash Down Together

I don't presume myself to be the first to either have this thought or publish it online, but here goes anyway.

The idea I want to explore is not exactly that the USAirways flight that ended in the Hudson River the other day was quite a bit of good news, nor that this Sully guy is one hell of a pilot, nor that Canada Geese (unverified culprit as yet) can be quite problematic.

What I've spent some time thinking about is why this story resonates so strongly right now. Why I'm still thinking about it a day and a half later. Why Chris Matthews gave the pilot something called "the Hardball award" (he was pretty excited about this story, but apparently didn't quite reach the point of chills or thrills going up his leg). Don't get me wrong, I know this is a fantastic story that would get a lot of play no matter when it happened. Still, I think that a lot of people are looking at this wanting to read it as a metaphor for our whole situation at this moment in history. This plane crash is not just significant as one of the happiest accidents we've seen.

You don't have to watch CNBC these days to feel like the American economy -- hell, the world economy -- has lost both engines, and we find ourselves passengers aboard what has become a mammoth glider, the controls of which we don't understand. While our pre-crash moment is stretched out over months instead of minutes, we've heard the "Brace for Impact" announcement, and nobody's flipping through the SkyMall catalog anymore (not that we don't still secretly lust after that hot dog roller they sell). Most of us board planes without any real understanding of how the things get airborne, and investors have made and lost money investing it things they couldn't begin to explain.

I think many people have accepted that we're going to have to ditch this plane, so we're inclined to take a lot of comfort in this crash, where a couple legs were broken, and, of course, the plane was lost, but most everyone came out just cold, wet, shaken, and thrilled to be alive. People are putting a lot of faith in a new president to steer us away from the skyscrapers and come in at precisely the right angle so we don't crack up completely. We know that things are going to get even more chaotic once we're down, and the cabin starts filling with icewater. We know that it's not going to be particularly orderly, and that some people are going to block the aisle trying to retrieve items from the overhead bin (alright, so I'm not sure what that's a metaphor for). But with enough people looking out for others, we might all come out alive.

Isn't that a nice thought?

Happy New Year! (so ten days ago)

Kind of hoping that the word doesn't get too far out, but Baltimore's 34th st kicks Times Square in the dropped ball, 'sfar as I'm concerned. While my new years eve plans have rarely moved past the point of eating Too Much Chex Mix -- and still haven't really gotten much better than that -- I did actually find myself out and about on this last December 31. We wandered the cold streets of the neighborhood of Hampden until we got to the famous (well, just a little) Christmas displays adorning a certain block of 34th st (think nativity scenes with Minnie Mouse, multiply that by "what?", and you're almost there). See a video someone shot here -- not sure what's going on at first, haven't been inclined to find out -- the ball drop commences around the 4:50 mark).

Things I liked about this:

- It was awesome

- You could arrive about 4 minutes to midnight and get a great vantage point

- Some hippie-ish types with a guitar and (?? - some spoons, a coffee can, don't remember) were asking one another "what could we sing that we could get everyone singing along to?" and then sang Beyonce's "Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)" -- and none present let not knowing a word of the verse stop them. Good song, and great that night.

- I got just inspired enough to yell "BALL!" several times, at the absolute top of my lungs, by way of encouraging said ball to drop.

- I still got to eat Too Much Chex Mix

Happy New Year Everyone!